you want to know how to keep your bike looking great? well ill give you a few tips! this is a great way to start.. this will give you a clean slate to keeping her clean, and shiny. part one: degrease now i know how everyone hates chin lube being slung everywhere, and it plays hell on the swing arm, sprocket, and rear wheel. i use a little kerosene on a microfiber towel to clean thigns up, wipes away very quickly. and if i do this i usually go ahead and clean the chain while im at it. then i use meguairs all purpose cleaner, i spray liberally in areas that need to be degreased, oil pan, front of the motor, forks, wheels, i go over the swing arm, chain guard, rear shock, etc. then let it sit for 15 min to do its work. agitate with a brush if necessary then get the hose out and spray everything down part two: the wash since we are basically going to be starting from scratch use this method only for the first time your going to be doing extensive work on the finish of your bike, all other times (after you have got it perfect and have a good sealer, use a nice mild car wash.. such as meguiars gold glass car wash, that wont eat the waxes, and sealants) anywho this time we will use something that will help strip the wax and sealants down. i usually use chemical guys citrus wash & clear, but for you guys that want to buy locally, just use some dawn dish soap. i have a nozzle i can put some of the soap into and foam it out onto the bike. i let it soak so it can loosen any dirt grime a good thing to have in your bucket is a grit guard, you can pick them up pretty cheap and it keeps your sponge or mit from touching the bottom of the bucket, where all the grime and rocks, debris will be. i usually use a 2 bucket system. one with clean water, and one with my soapy mixture. dip into the soapy mixture apply to your VFR, then rinse in clean water then back into your soap bucket. i also use a seperate bucket/mit for the wheels, since they are dirtier i dont want to get any debris from them onto the fairings/tank/screen. so do your washing, then rinse! step three: dry it every body loves the sham wow... but please dont use it. only a nice thick microfiber drying towel should be used, and i prefer using forced air, a leaf blower works great, and gets water out of every spot on the bike. step four: clay this is a crucial part to a clean finish i use the zaino clay bar but if i need somethign on the spot i usually pick up clay magic.. can be picked up locally at autozone. youll receive a clay bar and lubricant. work small sections at a time, mist the lubricant on to the area you are working with then slide the clay bar on that area. youll se it will pick up things out of the paint/plastic you never knew where there. if the clay gets dirty, roll it into a ball then flatten it back out and continue. i use the clay on the windscreen as well. and headlights, tail light, turn signals. after each spot you work on wipe down with a microfiber towel with some alcohol on it. step five: polish depending on how bad your paint condition is, will depend on what you start with. but for argument sake, lets say its swirled pretty good. the right tools are needed for the job. although you can obtain some decent results by hand, you wont get a truly optimum clarity. i use a porter cable buffer, and CCS pads. to start with, for badly wirled surfaces (which include paint headlights, taillights, turn signals) ill use a yellow CCS pad and some Meguiars #105 i set the porter cable to speed 5. work small areas at a time. make several passes till the polish is gone. ill do this to every part of the bike that i am polishing. after im down ill wipe down with a new microfiber towel and alcohol, and inspect. 99% of the swirls should be gone. if not ill make a few more passes. i then move to a white CCS pad and some middle weight polish (either Meguaris #83, Meserna IP, or poor boys world polish) same procedure as before for our final pass ill use the Black CCS pad and the porter cable on speed 3, ill generally use Menzerna FP or Poorboys SSR3 on the last pass, i wont wipe down with alcohol, i just use a microfiber towel. now one the wheels, i do the same process, only by hand. Step six: wax that ass/ or seal it now this is up to you.. on what you finish it with. i can use many different thigns at different times, zaino z2 followed buy some z8. or a pinnacle wax followed my optiseal.. if buying stuff from auto zone use a combo of things. i like to start out with a nice coat of Meguiars #6 tech wax. key is thin coats. let it dry atleast 30 min before wiping down with a microfiber towel. i usually do 2 coats of that, then move on to a sythetic poly wax such as meguiars NXT same process as the tech wax. now if you wanna spring it, i highly recommend the optimum Opti seal. works great and is a very long lasting sealer. jsut mist and wipe in. this will go over top of your coats of wax. these wax processes go the same for your screen, taillight, head light, turn signal, and wheels. and your outcome should be something like this.. this is a friends VFR i did a while ago same process, just on a newer vette.. black is purtty!! for any of you guys looking to pick up some polishes/ waxes / sealants.. here is a nice list to choose from.. more severe scratches/swirls- Megs 105 Menzerna powergloss Poorboys SSR 3 medium polishing - Menzerna IP Zaino ZPC Poorboys SSR 2.5 Megs 83 fine polish -- MEnzerna FP Poorboys SSR1 Sealants - Poorboys EX-P Zaino z2 optimum optiseal Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 Wax- poorboys Nattys blue or red Meguiars #26 followed by Meguiars NXT Pinnalce XMT 180 high gloss
